The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-07-06

measure protected tho innocent. Secre-
tary Stanton, q man of violent passions
| and, therefore, when aroused, of blind
prejudice, was aided in his insane fury
by Andrew Johnson, who had reasons
of his own for keeping alive storm
which prevented too close IL scrutiny
into his own past associations and con
duct The men of infamous class known
as detectives, developed by the war, and
cultivated 10y the secretary Of war and
the secretary of state, where kings and
subordinate officers, were executors I'M
der their own law, and instead Of en-
cournglng All opening of testimony, they
! prosecuted all who wcro supposed to
know anything connected with the muir
der OF Lincoln and the attempted murder
of Seward. In this way poor stage
carpenter, who innocently held Booths
horse on the night of the assassination
WAS sent to a living death, and poor Dr.
Audd, who treated the broken ankle of
Booth, never dreaming of what caused
the accident, was glad to escape the gal
lows i'll sharing tho carpenters punish
mcnt. Mrs. Surratt, who was found
guilty of keeping boarding house at
Washington, was hangcd-to our national
shame through all time to come.
1t was death to any one known to have
seen, let alonc associated with Booth,
and III this way mouths were closed in
fear, and consequently revelation of
the facts suppressed,
This affords key 10 tho reasons for
Andrew Johnson's strange, contradicto-
ry and wild conduct on the occasion.
He out-Herodod Horod, which means
Stanton, III his angry dcnunciation of
men whom he afterwards, when in the
| safety of subsidcd excitement, strange
ly favored. And in this we can find the
only reasonable solution Of his passing
from one extreme to tho other. On one
day he was furious III his demands to
have treason made odious by hanging
the traitors, from JEFF Davis down. Not
long after he shifted to the other extreme
| that favored general amnesty, and was
| remarkable for an equally heated de-
nuncatiOn OF the Radicals at the North
who would recognize Lincoln's mild re-
construction policy, based on forgive
ness and kind treatment.
President johnson felt that he was The
only man in Ill the world who was bgne-
fitted by the death Of his predecessor,
and haunting him was a fact that strange
ly escaped attention at tho time. He
had not only been the boon companion
and confidential friend OF Booth III tines
past, but the assassin's card was found
in the wrong box ut Johnson's hotel,
familiarly addressed to the Vice -Plcsi-
dent, asking for an interview on the
very day of the night on which the as
sassination occurred.
Less evidence than this hanged others,
and Stantons blind rage and Johnson's
simulated fury saved Andrew johnson
| n glT mt lpl oli =,
inr ocent and guilty.
Much time and ink have been wasted
over that recommendation to executive
ciomcncy awarded Mis-. Surntt by the
court martial that condemned her, and
an effort made to have us believe that it
was kept from the President.
The records show that this recommen-
dation made II part Of the proceedings
| upon which the President had to pass
! Ii this were not SO the President was
guilty of an Illegal act. The fact is that
the recommendation to mercy was be-
! fore the man who not only dared not
comply With the plea, but, i'll his fear,
actually hurried up the execution. And
this great advocate of the constitution,
| furthermore, refused to recognize the
interference of a civil tribunal that
sought to review the proceedings of a
court martial, as it had tho right to do,
! under n writ OF habeas corpus.
Is it possible that Booth had the meet
ing with the Vice President for which he
asked, and if SO did he tell the Vice
President of the awful work he had in
hand? If SO, it may be that Andrew
Johnson took this to be the yaporinEs of
n drunkari actor-and it is very likely
that his strange conduct came rather
from fear than from the workings of a
guilty conscience.
| AS Judge Advocate OF the Extrao rdi-
nary Court of Inquiry that sought to in.
vestigato the military conduct of General
Buell., was brought in close association
with Andrew johnson, and what ! learn
ed OF him on that occasion gives me q
better opportunity for forming judgment
than falls to the lot of the many who
ascribc all his actions to high pPtriotic
| impulses.
1t may be that the future historian
weighing these facts i'll an impartial
mind, will come to the same conclusion
that have i'll regard to President John
son. But this is doubtful. a thought.
full mind has told us that history is the
politics Of the past and the present, and
politics mean the prejudices and current
beliefs of tho people.
| have been struck in this connection
by tho remarkable similarity of conduct
on the part of johnson and that OF
Macbeth. When tho murderer of that
greatest and most perfect tragedy is
brought face to face with his awful
crime, he fairly roars in his simulated
wrath. The grand imagination of the
kingly assassin that has given us some
of the purest expressions of phiIosophi
cal poetry give place to the miserable
rant OF vulgar mind, Macbeth, how
ever, was carrying the murdered Duncan
on his conscience, while johnson was
probably driven to desperation by tn,
knowledge of an indiscretion that had
the same dreadful consequences loom
ing into immediate existhnce.
| would rather have been the associate
of Booth and possessed of his dreadful
secret, if the awful choice were forced
upon me, and have been hanged for it,
than to have lived through years to my